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There was a second umpire waiting for another game to start witting right behind home plate in the stands watching when it happened. I walked over and asked him about it.
Little bit more detail. When the 3B player applied the tag, he had the ball in his throwing hand and tagged the runner with an empty glove. The runner was called out.
I wanted to ask the ump about that because a few weeks ago I applied a tag on a runner with an empty glove and was told I had to have the ball in glove to get the out.
I asked the ump why the runner in this situation was called out. He said the runner stepped back toward 2B when he was forced to go to 3B and that was why the out was called. The ump that made the call was between batters standing at the fence listening to this explanation and seemed to agree. He certainly didn't dispute the explanation if it was not the reason he made the call.
The runner did not move outside the basepath. just back toward second. He was really trying to get the third baseman holding the ball long enough to not turn the double play, knowing there was no way he was making it to 3B safely.
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